Through the Ages
by TheProdigalWordsmith
Summary: A look at the lives and intricacies of the Russo children through the years.  Beginning the night of Alex's birth; ending just after the competition.
1. Thunder

**Title: **Thunder

**Word Count:** 1600~ or so.

**P.O.V:** Narrative, focusing on a three-year-old Justin.

**Summary:** A look at the night of Alex's birth and the changes of the world through Justin's eyes.

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><p>When Justin was three, his favorite thing in the world was sports. He was still too little to play them but he could watch them on the television with his father and really that was what made sports so special to him anyway. His father, Jerry, would sit down on a couch and pull him up on to sit on his lap and they would stay there for hours being quiet and just watching. Most of the time they watched baseball but not always and Justin never really understood how the game was supposed to be played so it didn't matter much to him anyway. The important thing to him was that he was spending time with his <em>Dad<em> who always seemed so busy downstairs at work or upstairs with his mother, Theresa. This was quality time together to bond and it was nice, even if he didn't understand, because he knew it was his.

When Justin was three he didn't care about knowing things. It didn't matter what a foul ball was or why his father was sometimes so happy when one was called and so upset the next time it happened. All that mattered was they were there and together and he didn't know what he would do if they weren't because he was still young enough to be terrified of thunderstorms without his dad there to protect him - he couldn't possibly fathom the idea of being alone. So when the night came along where his father wasn't there after the first period was over - and after Justin had managed to struggle himself on to the couch without help or slipping off more than once - it was surprisingly terrifying. Slow terror turned to wet tears which became confused wails.

"Justin baby, stop crying what's wrong?" His mother's soothing words and arms wrap around him from behind and he's struggling not to cry because Dad isn't there but Mom is so thunderstorms aren't scary and she must know where Dad is.

"Daddy," he hiccups as he pushes himself as tightly against her swollen stomach as he can, "no' here and game!" He's still little and working on his words but he's sure she'll understand because she's been telling him he's getting better and smarter every day, even if he's still struggling with his _t_'s.

"Shh, _hijo_," she's whispering to him and he's stopped crying, "Daddy just had a busy day at work, alright baby? He's downstairs cleaning but I'm sure he'll be up here as soon as you can You know how much he loves watching the game with you." Theresa pulls Justin just a bit farther away so she can see his eyes and he's still crying so she wipes at his eyes and sits down next to him with her magazine, "How about this _hijo_, I'll sit right here and watch with you until he gets up okay?"

Justin nods before scooting over so she can sit and he knows that he's not allowed to sit on her lap so he just pushes as flush against her as he can and turns his head back to the game. It's not as interesting without his father's animated words but maybe it's nice just spending time with his Mom and she's warm so his eyes drift close and he starts to dream.

When he opens his eyes next the first thing he sees is his mother looking at him with worried eyes and the couch feels wet on his hands so he starts to open his mouth to apologize even though he thought he was done with potty training and she cuts him off. "Justin, baby, I need you to go get your Daddy from downstairs okay? Tell him Mommy said we have to go to the hospital because her water broke and he needs to call someone okay?"

Justin takes a quick look at the television and sees the number four so he knows he's been asleep for a while and his Dad still isn't watching with him which feels terrible but his Mom looks hurt so he pushes the thought to the back of his mind. Instead he slides off the couch and runs downstairs as fast as his little feet can take him, which isn't very quickly because Dad always told him not to run in the house. He's still going fast enough that his feet slip out from underneath him the second he reaches the freshly mopped floor of the restaurant and slides dramatically - if painlessly - along the floor until he hits the bottom of the counter.

His father is over him in an instant, simultaneously checking for injuries and scolding him for running on the wet floor. The shock from the fall mixed with worry for his Mom make Justin break out in tears and his father's eyes soften right away before he kneels down next to him and smiles the reassuring _I'm sorry, I was worried_ smile that Justin very rarely sees. He relaxes almost immediately when he sees that look on his fathers face.

"Now then little guy, what's so important that you had to break the rules for?" his father's voice is teasing and suddenly Justin remembers what his Mom told him.

"Mommy. Broke her Wa'er." Then it occurs to Justin what he just said and he starts crying again because his Mom has broken something and Jerry's look has switched from reassuring _I'm sorry_ to _Oh no_ which means something bad has happened, "Mommy okay righ'?" he sobs out and _I'm sorry_ is back again.

"She's okay little guy," Jerry is standing up and reaching for the phone on the counter but doesn't look away from Justin, "I need you to go get your coat and boots though okay? I need to call Mommy an ambulance."

The tears come back to Justin's face at the word ambulance because he doesn't know a lot but he knows that ambulances mean bad things are happening and his Mom has always said she hopes she never needs one. Jerry, for his part, catches on to the mistake right away and cringes before weighing the options in his head and sliding a quick glance at the spiral stairs leading up to where his wife is waiting.

"Did I say Ambulance? Silly me. I meant Taxi. Can you go upstairs and put your coat and boots on while I go help Mommy get ready?"

There's a stiff nod and Jerry runs upstairs to get his wife while Justin pulls himself up to walk back around the counter where he had put his boots and coat from last time they went out. It takes him a few minutes of struggling but he's proud of himself for getting his own boots on even if he couldn't do his jacket up all the way. His mother and father come downstairs together, Jerry half carrying Theresa down the bottom steps and Justin stands there waiting for his father to come over to zip up his coat for him because he always does.

There's a few car honks from outside so Jerry starts to help his wife towards the door before turning around to give Justin a look and beckon him over to come with them. Justin just stands there confused though, because his coat isn't zipped up and his father has never let him leave the house without it being closed nice and warmly before.

"Justin, come on. We've got to go now."

His father is still walking towards the door with his mother instead of turning around to help him do up his coat and Justin understands that even less than he understands foul balls so he tries to do up the zipper himself but it's just too hard and his fingers are too small.

"Just leave it, Justin. We don't have time for this." Jerry's voice echoes _authority_ and _exasperation _instead of the usual _patience_ and _love_ that Justin is so used to as the doors to the Sub Station are opened and Theresa half stumbles as the wind begins flowing inside. It's confusing for Justin and he decides he's overwhelmed and he'll cry later so instead he just runs to and out the door - wearing his boots now so he won't slip on the still wet tile - as fast as he can into the rainy Manhattan weather.

"Really Jerry?" his mother is groaning indignantly at the bright shining _804 _sign on the top of the Taxi.

"I'm sorry! I didn't want to make Justin any more upset!" His father is opening the door for his mother and helping her get in the back of the cab and suddenly Justin feels as small as he's ever felt and he thinks he's gotten his dad in trouble without ever meaning to.

"Well sometimes it's not all about Justin!" His mother's words are whispered, angry and Justin is sure she doesn't think he's heard them so he keeps biting back tears that he's had all night as his father sits him down next to the stranger driving and goes to sit in the back with his wife.

Justin has never sat in the front alone before, especially not with his coat unbuttoned and certainly not after watching sports without his Dad. _Not all about Justin_ circles around a few times in his head and it becomes so much harder to not cry when he realizes he can't even turn around to look at his parents as the cab speeds up after his father says the words _baby_, _labor_ and _hospital_. It's the most alone he's ever felt.

Just to make it worse, he's sure he can hear thunder ringing in throughout the night.

**Fin**

**Notes: **

Far too rushed, barely edited and shorter than I'd like at just over 1600 words pure story. I find that Justin, as a character, is too often sidelined as a _reactionary_ character to Alex. This makes sense, of course, as Alex was designed to be the show runner and Justin is inherently more of a second-fiddle straight-man to her shenanigans.

I wanted to take a look at _Wizards of Waverly Place_ through Justin's eyes and explore the sibling - yes, sibling, there will be other things I'll write that will explore Alex and Justin together romantically - relation the Russo children (even Max) create through the years. The original idea I had was to write something exploring Justin and Alex's first major fight because the cliche of "Justin has belonged to Alex since he first laid eyes on her" doesn't _really_ sit that well with me.

I finished that story and decided I needed more background, which is where this story came from. Then I decided 5000~ words (between two stories) didn't do Justin nearly enough justice.

I think _this_ idea in particular is up to seven or eight chapters now. Hopefully you'll enjoy them.


	2. The Thing

**Title: **The Thing

**Word Count: **3200 give-or-take a few.

**P.O.V: **Narrative

**Summary:** When Justin was seven, his favourite thing in the world was learning.

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><p>When Justin was seven, his favourite thing in the world was learning. He had started kindergarten two years ago and fallen in love with it almost instantly. Even though he didn't actually start school until nine, he would get up early every morning to make sure his clothes were clean, hair was combed, teeth were brushed and he could have his mother could look over his homework while he poured himself cereal. He had forgotten to do part of it one day and his teacher - a nice lady named Mrs. Adams - had made him promise never to forget again. She had told him that doing his homework was one of the most important things to do if you want to learn, which Justin wanted more than anything.<p>

Getting up for school also meant having his mom tell him how proud she was in him for being such a smart boy, which made Justin swell up with pride and love every single time he heard it. After breakfast every morning he and his father would put on their shoes and jackets before leaving the station to walk down to the bus stop together. Justin looked forward to this part of the day the most because it was ten whole minutes where he got to share the things he'd learned and what he was doing that day with the person he loved the most in the world.

The bus would come and he would be whisked off to a wonderful two hours of learning things and playing with friends before eventually being put back in the bus - always less magical on the way home - and dropped back off on the corner of Waverly. His father would always be there to meet him as he got off the bus and listen to his days adventure in second grade while they walked back together to the sub shop. Justin would walk in to the shop with his father and talk to one of the nice ladies that was always there as she asked how school was that day, until his mother would shout to him that she had finished his lunch so he could go upstairs and get started with his homework.

Justin had woken up early that morning - it was a Wednesday which meant he had school - and gone to the bathroom to comb his hair and brush his teeth before going downstairs. Today, however, Justin didn't come downstairs to the sight of a cereal box and his mother drinking that disgusting smelling black coffee he wasn't ever allowed to taste. Instead, Justin walked down the stairs to see his mother fussing with his little brother Max and the _thing_ his father was always reminding him was named Alex and supposed to be his sister.

Apparently, from what Justin could figure out, the _thing_ was throwing a tantrum because she was supposed to start kindergarten that day and didn't want to wake up early, walk to the bus or change out of her pyjamas. He walked over to the kitchen before pouring himself some cereal, putting his homework on the counter and walking back to sit down next to Max and purposely as far away from Theresa and t_hing's_ fighting that he could.

"_Alexandra Margarita Russo_!" his mother flares from her seat as _the thing_ pushed it's cereal bowl away for what Justin was sure must have been at least the thousandth time this morning, "You are going to eat your breakfast right this instant! Then, when you're done, you're going to go upstairs and change out of your pyjamas in to something nice for your first day of school."

Justin couldn't help the roll of his eyes as _the thing_ pounded it's little fist against the table before shouting back - two octaves too high - that she wasn't going and school was stupid. He seriously couldn't understand how she didn't think the idea of going to school and learning was so exciting but it didn't matter to him really because it was just more proof the two of them couldn't possibly be related. Normally he wouldn't get involved when _thing_ got like this but his mother looked like she was about to strangle something in frustration and little Maximillian looked like he was going to cry.

"Mom," he interjects during a break in _the thing's_ shouting and turns his best look to his mother, "Can you look over my homework please? I was having a bit of trouble with my journal because I didn't really know what to write"

"Of course Justin," she looks thankful for the break as she pulls herself out of her chair and walks over to the counter. _The thing_ busies itself with pouring itself some milk and Justin's gaze shifts from his mother to the milk in _thing's_ bowl before snapping back to Theresa as she opens her mouth again.

"I'm going to get your Dad so he can look at your homework too quickly, okay?" she asks quietly and Justin thinks maybe she sounds upset but she looks fine so he must have imagined it. "You stay here to watch Alex and Max for me until I get back, okay? I promise I won't be long."

"Urgh," he groans and cocks his head to lay a tired look on _the thing_ before looking back up to his mother pleadingly. She tells him, again, that she won't be long and it's the good brother thing to do as she starts up the stairs towards Jerry, his journal in hand. He mumbles it's fine anyway, more to himself than to either of them else, and _the thing_ decides it's time to talk.

"What's fine?"

"Nothing. I was talking to myself, certainly not to _you_."

_The thing_ looks sad for a minute so maybe he should feel bad but he doesn't because it doesn't matter what _the thing_ feels and _it_ looks angry now anyway so too late, whatever. Justin looks back to Max, who's now fallen asleep, and stares at him hoping desperately that whatever's wrong with their other sibling wont latch itself on to the little one as well. _The thing_ has apparently decided it was quiet time because _it's_ not saying anything and a quick glance back confirms that _it_ is just swishing a spoon around in milk.

There's another two minutes of nothing as Justin eats his cereal before _the thing_ opens its mouth again.

"Cereal is gross" _it_ mutters and Justin rolls his eyes again.

"That's because there's no cereal in there, dummy. All you did was pour in the milk."

"Oh." _it _sounds sadder again for a second, "'Kay, Milk is gross."

"No it's not. You drink it every day. You've drank it every day since you were born." Justin's voice has started to gain an edge and he hopes his parents will come downstairs soon because it's certainly not been a fast enough trip for him.

"Well... I'm not gonna drink any milk ever again?" _It_ has fingers curled around the bowl of milk and there's a sparks in _its_ eyes and Justin really should know better but it's too late because he doesn't noticed until the words are half way out of his mouth.

"What are you going to do with it then?," Justin snorts, "Take a bath?"

"Nope!" _the thing_ shouts gleefully, "You are!"

In the next second Justin realizes what's about to happen and tries to duck before his perfect haircut is ruined but he's far too late. His hair, face and shirt are all covered with Milk and _the thing_ is laughing while Max wakes up to start trying and he shouts _Alex_ as loud as he can as his parents rush down the stairs to see what the commotion is.

He turns around and storms upstairs to the sounds of his parents scolding her because now he has to change and dry his hair again which means he also has to comb his hair again. Justin's perfect morning routine has been ruined by _the thing_ and he's beyond furious so he just stays upstairs in his room until his father comes by and tells him they have to go off to the bus.

They're quiet on the walk which is unusual but Justin doesn't really mind because he's still furious and angry tears still threaten to fall out of his eyes. His father clears his throat about half way through the walk and Justin knows what the sound means right away.

"Justin," he starts softly, "Mom and I looked at your homework and it was perfectly fine."

"It was? Cool!" Justin's mood is skyrocketed immediately because he knows perfect homework means praise and praise not only means attention but it's something he gets that makes him that much less like _the thing_. He pumps his fist in the air and turns to grin at his father but freezes mid-step when he sees the look on Jerry's face.

"We uh..." Jerry trails off for a second, not sure how to have a discussion with his son about his daughter, "We also saw the drawing you drew of the family. It was... missing something, don't you think?"

Justin's face falls instantly because he knows _exactly_ what the drawing was missing and doesn't want to talk about it so he tries to distract his father. "Mrs. Adams is really happy because I've been doing my homework every night! I even got a gold star on the board because of it!"

His father lets out a long sigh and Justin knows right away his plan hasn't worked.

"How come you didn't draw your sister, Justin?"

"I did!"

"No you didn't," Jerry runs his hand along his face and frowns again, "You drew a blob as far away from us as you could on the page. What was that supposed to be?"

"I told you. I drew _it_." Justin had thought that was very clever of him but apparently his father didn't agree.

"Justin, your little sisters name is Alex. You know that."

He does know that. He knows her name is Alex because he hears it from his parents so often. They're always doing _something _with _Alex_, or talking about _Alex_, or shouting at _Alex_. They're doing something with _Alex_ so constantly they never do anything with him anymore. Justin doesn't want to say that though, so he just shrugs and looks down at the ground.

"I'll fix it when I get home, okay?" he offers weakly and starts to walk towards the corner because the bus will be there soon and all he wants to do is get away from _Alex_ and talking about _Alex_. He doesn't need to help them give her even more attention.

"Sounds good little guy - or is it big guy, now?" his father is teasing him which it makes Justin smile because really this is still the best part of the day so they talk about what he's going to do at school until the bus comes and whisks him off to another wonderful day of learning things and seeing friends. He learns about planets, makes a new friend named Zeke and they spend all recess playing in the sand and talking about aliens. The bus even looks magical again as it comes to take him home to where his father will be waiting at the bus stop for him.

Today, however, his father doesn't want to hear about his day and the walk home from the corner is almost painfully quiet. Justin's marched inside before his father and isn't allowed to talk to the nice lady before he's sent up to his room because he's in big trouble even though he has no idea what he did in the slightest.

He goes in to his room and wants to cry but he doesn't because he has homework and maybe if he gets it done really early his parents won't be mad at him for whatever has happened because he's sure it's _the things_ fault anyway. So he sits down at his desk and starts writing about the sun being hot and Pluto being cold but before too long _the thing_ is standing at the edge of the doorway staring at him.

"What do _you_ want?" Justin sneers from his seat and he notices she's holding her backpack and he's amused again because _Alex_ must have gotten tired of fighting and finally given in to their mother forcing her to go to school.

"I went to s'ool!" _It_ proclaims proudly before running over to his bed, tossing herself and her backpack on his perfectly tucked in sheets, ruining fifteen minutes of his time.

"How wonderful. I bet you hated it," Justin drawls out in sarcastic response, except he doesn't remember that _it_ doesn't speak sarcasm yet - thank god.

"Nop'", the _p_ sound pops from her lips and he doesn't think she'll ever learn how to properly say no to anything, "S'ool was so fun! We got to draw!"

_It_ starts rummaging through her bag and Justin doesn't really care so he turns back to try and finish writing about cold planets. He makes it half-way through another sentence before there's a piece of paper being pushed on to his desk and screwing up his printing. His first reaction is so turn around and tell _the thing_ that he wants it out of his room but instead his eyes centre on the picture his sister little sister has pushed in front of him and he feels colder inside then he even thinks Pluto is.

She doesn't notice how his eyes widen because she's too busy being proud and talking about her awesome picture to him, "I drew us! There's Mommy and Daddy and Maxie and You and Me"

The picture is exactly what she says it is: there's a tall stick man wearing what looks to be a tie, another tall stickwoman wearing a skirt, two shorter stickman - one with pants and the other with a skirt - and one little baby stickman with a bottle next to it. They're all labelled in her messy handwriting and Justin has to blink aware tears when he she's that she hasn't written _Alex_ or even _Me_ underneath herself.

She's written _thing_.

"This is... really good," he half-lies, because it's quite good for a five year old minus what she's done with her name and he turns himself to look at her face - beaming and full of pride - before he can force himself to continue, "Why did you... Why didn't you write down your name? How come it doesn't say Alex?"

She just blinks at him like it's the stupidest thing she's heard.

"Because, dummy. You _always_ call me thing!"

Justin swears he can hear his heart breaking as she talks; he's sure he's about to cry and Alex is going to laugh at him forever but he doesn't care. The only thing he's thinking about is that his little sister is calling herself something he's called her forever because he was sure he _hates_ her but she's always thought it's because he _loved_ her. He understands why his parents were so angry with him but it's nothing compared to the pain he's feeling right now.

"You okay?" She asks him, because he hasn't said anything or done anything but stare at her for the past twenty seconds, "Want me to get mommy? You look sick."

He chokes out a laugh at her concern and wants to die all the more before he gets a sudden idea and turns back to his journal to rip out the page that he had been doing his homework on. He doesn't even care that he's got to write almost half a page again because the backside of that page had _the picture_ on it and he never wants to be reminded of it again.

Instead he turns back to her and smiles while pulling out his crayons from his drawer.

"You know what? I have to draw a picture of us for my class too, do you want to help?"

Her eyes light up after he asks and she jumps off the bed to toss the journal and crayons on the ground. Then she reaches up to pull him down off the chair to the ground with her but he's still sitting on his seat and he looks sad so she asks him again what's wrong.

"Nothing," he sniffs again as he gets off his chair and sits down next to her with the crayons and the paper between them, "but... why don't we come up with a new name for you than _the thing_? How about... Lex?"

She blinks and shrugs, mouthing off a quick "'Kay!" before excitedly attacking the paper with her red crayon, trying to draw what she thinks passes as a house.

Twenty minutes later they're just done working on it - together - when Theresa and Jerry finally make their way upstairs to deal with their son. When they step in the room however, they pause and look at their children playing together _nicely_ and Theresa lets out a small gasp of surprise that makes Alex look up at them.

"Look Mommy!" There's laughter in her voice and she scoops up the paper they've been working on and running over to show it to their parents, "Jus'n and me drew it for you!"

Theresa and Jerry look down at the picture, then back up to Justin and he only looks at them for a second before he finds the ground stupendously interesting for the second time that day, so they look back at their daughter and smile big smiles, "That's so good honey! How come you didn't write your name though?"

"'cause Jus'n said my name isn't thing anymore! It's Lex!"

Justin covers his face because he isn't sure he's ever felt this embarrassed and he doesn't even know why he feels embarrassed anyways because it wasn't like _Lex_ was supposed to be some big secret between them or anything.

Theresa starts to laugh and tells Alex she needs help making dinner. The little girl opens her mouth to protest but their mother promises they can make brownies for desert and she can lick the blender and suddenly Alex is out of the room like a flash. Theresa looks at the picture one more time before turning around to follow and talking to herself about _the nicest thing she's ever seen_ and _putting it on the fridge_.

Justin looks up to meet Jerry's eyes and tries not to look too pathetic because Jerry is walking over to put his hand on Justin's shoulder and Justin is still convinced he's in trouble.

"I think maybe you're starting to learn about what being a big brother is," is all his father tells him before taking his hand of his shoulder and starting to walk out of the room, "come on, let's go see if they need any help making dinner."

Justin stands up and casts a look down to where the crayons that Alex had been using are laying, filed down weirdly through their use and broken slightly at the ends. He starts to smile even though he's aware dimly he's probably going to have to ask for a new crayon set on his birthday.

After all, if there's one thing in the world that Justin loves the most, it's learning.

**Fin**

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><p><strong>Notes: <strong>

I wrote this one months ago (literally months - we're talking February or March) before getting caught up in the swills of life and forgetting I'd ever even started this project. As such, this chapter has even less editing than the past one.

Sorry about that.

Originally with this one the goal was, roughly, "_examine the moment Justin begins to accept Alex as a part of his life he'll enjoy, not detest_" and I felt the idea of Alex's first day of school would be a plausible (maybe powerful) collision of worlds for the eldest Russo children. Particularly with Alex having an aptitude for artistry and the fact that the majority of my kindergarten memories consist of poorly drawn pictures that I'm sure are still hiding amongst my parents possession.

In the series, the idea of Justin having a cruel steak beyond subtlety in the things he did was rarely explored, even in the arc where he supposedly became evil. I thought the concept of Justin doing something so horrible to his sister as a child, essentially causing her to objectify and dehumanize herself, would make a sensible bridge to why he never actually outright attacks Alex (minus the maybe two times he does in more-than-that-many seasons) despite how often she eggs him on.

Oddly enough, the hardest thing about this chapter was the nickname to replace _thing_, "Lex" itself I still don't quite like, but "Lexie" was just too stereotypical for the situation - especially after someone as talented as Tilante had taken the name and created an entire character off it - and I just don't like nicknames that have the first-half of the real name in them.

The flipside of that, I think the part I enjoy the most about this (looking back now, months after it was written) is Alex's reaction to being told she has to help make dinner ("no way!") but how it flips once she learns she gets brownies afterwards. I expect she'd badger Theresa endlessly about how much longer it would be until brownies.

That's all she(he? I?) wrote; I hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time,

-Wordsmith


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